In the Information Age, the amount of electronic data that is handled and managed by organizations seemingly continues to grow without limit. Storing all electronic data handled within an organization may no longer be feasible due to costs associated with providing and maintaining data storage hardware as well as back-up storage capabilities, and costs associated with data management services. Currently, some organizations practice a hold-and-delete approach to data retention, where data may be held in storage for a period of time and then permanently deleted. In such an implementation, all electronic data may be assigned a retention period as it is received or created by an organization. After the assigned retention period, the data may be deleted.
There may be several difficulties associated with the storing and management of vast amounts of data. For example, it may be difficult or costly to keep track of what data is stored on what type of data storage medium and how long the data is to be retained on the storage medium. Additional management burdens can be incurred when old data storage devices are phased out and new devices introduced to a system. Further, removal of data can be time consuming when based on search-and-delete methods.